HTPC all in one, or Freenas media server + client?

[Shark1976]

I'm looking to build a media server storing nothing more than movies and tv series. My current arrangement means that the setup would be in one room including the client / TV. Ideally I am looking for something that suits my current needs but can also be upgraded or expandable as of when it comes to buying my own place.

I've been looking at building a tower server with Freenas, ECC ram, server grade motherboard and Xeon CPU, using ZFS RAID. This would be located on a 10 gigabit network along with my PC and client with Kodi. I've also considered going down the cheaper route of building a media server using non server grade components (consumer mobo, i3 non-ECC ram etc). To add to my confusion I've toyed with the idea of an all-in-one HTPC (as I'm only going to be watching the media on one tv). This HTPC would house a RAID array, be low powered, and operate as both a media server and a client. To help make my decision a little easier I have some questions:

1. Is using Freenas, ECC ram and ZFS RAID really essential for a media server OR would a RAID array on lower grade consumer components be suffice?
2. Could I have a Freenas server and Kodi client all-in-one, which I switch on and off as of when I want to watch media?
3. If I was to opt for a HTPC with consumer grade parts and a standard RAID setup, would this cause problems if at a later point I wanted to move those discs into a ZFS Freenas setup?

Because I'm the only one needing access at this time, and all hardware (will currently) be just in one room, I am concerned that having a server and a client is a bit overkill. That said whatever route I choose needs to have the scope to expand without the need to start a fresh. BTW budget will be between £1000 - £2000. I have already purchased 40TB of discs.

 

[Constantin]

I'd use a dedicated appliance for each case - a good storage server and a good media platform. Make the storage server good at what it needs to do (in my case, I looked for low power consumption, lots of bandwidth, ample expansion opportunity) and ditto for the media device (i.e. CPU capable of transcoding or whatever you're looking to do).

Lots of folk have been lusting after servers that can transcode 4K, etc. and the current reality is that every server I am aware of can only handle one, maybe two high-quality transcodings at a time. In return, you get very high ongoing power needs, lots of $$$ spent, etc. Don't overlook your ongoing power cost needs, they may become substantial. Presumably, your media PC will only run for a few hours a day (if that) while the media server will run 24/7.

I'd look into something like the X10SDV-2C-7TP4F as a storage motherboard - low power, low cost, but very powerful with lots of room for expansion. Then figure out your transcoding rig based on your current needs and upgrade that over time as they change. Chances are, the media server will last you a lot longer before becoming obsolete.

For all I know, the server rig may even be fine for Kodi as long as you're not asking too much of the CPU. But I have no experience with Kodi, I simply use a old Mac Mini as my media interface for the TV while the server only focuses on storage.

 

[pschatz100]

I would not try to build an all-in-one device. Quite frankly, it is not cost effective.

I use Roku's as media clients for my TV's. If you choose a late model one compatible with 4K, then you will have a very nice media player that can handle most common video formats natively. I also use Plex as a media server, rather than Kodi. At the end of the day, I like simple straightforward solutions.

 

[Shark1976]

I'd use a dedicated appliance for each case - a good storage server and a good media platform. Make the storage server good at what it needs to do (in my case, I looked for low power consumption, lots of bandwidth, ample expansion opportunity) and ditto for the media device (i.e. CPU capable of transcoding or whatever you're looking to do).

Lots of folk have been lusting after servers that can transcode 4K, etc. and the current reality is that every server I am aware of can only handle one, maybe two high-quality transcodings at a time. In return, you get very high ongoing power needs, lots of $$$ spent, etc. Don't overlook your ongoing power cost needs, they may become substantial. Presumably, your media PC will only run for a few hours a day (if that) while the media server will run 24/7.

I'd look into something like the X10SDV-2C-7TP4F as a storage motherboard - low power, low cost, but very powerful with lots of room for expansion. Then figure out your transcoding rig based on your current needs and upgrade that over time as they change. Chances are, the media server will last you a lot longer before becoming obsolete.

For all I know, the server rig may even be fine for Kodi as long as you're not asking too much of the CPU. But I have no experience with Kodi, I simply use a old Mac Mini as my media interface for the TV while the server only focuses on storage.

As the motherboard you listed only supports 4 SATA 3 ports I presume my only option would be hardware RAID?

 

[Shark1976]

I would not try to build an all-in-one device. Quite frankly, it is not cost effective.

I use Roku's as media clients for my TV's. If you choose a late model one compatible with 4K, then you will have a very nice media player that can handle most common video formats natively. I also use Plex as a media server, rather than Kodi. At the end of the day, I like simple straightforward solutions.

There's no doubting that Plex as a media server and client works very well

 

[Constantin]

As the motherboard you listed only supports 4 SATA 3 ports I presume my only option would be hardware RAID?

Four? You may have been a bit hasty with the spec sheet.

It’s 20 altogether. Four are run by the CPU, the other 16 are run by a LSI 2116 HBA chip. Of the four run by the CPU, two are SATADOM-enabled. Plenty of SATA ports, and all of them are run by non-Marvell controllers.

The only downside is the shape of the board - the number of cases that can hold it is somewhat limited compared to all the stuff out there built for mini-ITX. However, the two PCIe x8 slots plus the x4 m.2 make for a very flexible rig and the dual SFP+ ports ensure that the network infrastructure is unlikely to become a limiting factor in the future either.

Overall, for the money, it's simply a great board and arguably a much better value that the atom-based C3xxx boards out there (which feature fewer SATA ports, usually copper 10Gbe interfaces (if even fitted), m.2 at x2, only one PCIe slot, etc.). The power draw differences are not substantial either, the TDP of the D-1508 is only 25W and the thing can turbo to higher clock speeds than the D-1537 in my rig.

Based on my current needs, I probably should have selected the D-1508-based unit instead. I opted for the more powerful version of this board mainly to future-proof my server hardware.

 

[Shark1976]

Four? You may have been a bit hasty with the spec sheet.

It’s 20 altogether. Four are run by the CPU, the other 16 are run by a LSI 2116 HBA chip. Of the four run by the CPU, two are SATADOM-enabled. Plenty of SATA ports, and all of them are run by non-Marvell controllers.

Is this using a hardware controller? Sorry if this sounds like a dumb question, this is all unfamiliar to me. As I understand it Freenas (if I decide to use it) prefers software raid via ZFS and requires hardware controllers run in IT mode.

 

[Constantin]

No RAID involved. FreeNAS is happy as a clam dealing with the LSI 2116 Host Bus Adapter (HBA).

The LSI 2116 chip on the X10SDV-2C-7TP4F motherboard works as as if you had a LSI HBA chip housed on a PCIe card like the 9008 series... except that it’s integrated, saving you from having to dedicate a PCIe slot or two to the task of interfacing with 16 SATA or SAS drives. See the manual for the board for a high level diagram.

Other than running hot, being installed in a place where it's almost impossible to cool effectively should a normal-length PCIe card be installed, etc. that chip is simply awesome. I found a very shallow blower that I installed on the chip, which allows it to operate in the 40-50*C range, which apparently is on the cool side for LSI HBA chips.

 

[telgordo]

Well, I'm not quite a noob, and most of my knowledge comes from trial and error, so here goes....first an "all in one box" solution is probably not the best route, having separate media players and server works well for me, I use my set up pretty much as you intend to use yours I have a windows pc based on an asrock j4205 this is used to access the shares on the server and the freenas GUI, now for the server, ( I'm preparing for the howls of derision ), I acquired an old supermicro tower with a dead mobo, basically all that was okay was the backplane and case with funds short, I bought a Chinese x79 motherboard, a Xeon 2660, and 8 sticks of ECC ddr3 memory, added an LSI 9208-8i HBA AIO water cooler , small SSD for the system drive, fan controller, and with a bit of tinkering have a perfectly good Nas, not cutting edge but puts in gigabit speeds over my wired network, on the media player side I use odroid N2 boxes running coreelec, they playback 4k HDR, even the high bitrate files